When I run trains on Bydemill – my 7mm scale Great Western Railway layout – I tend to use a wireless throttle. I rarely need access to my ECoS 50200 – the command station for my digital command control system. But sometimes, I do – and up until now it’s required some uncomfortable contortions to accomplish.
I decided to do something about that.
The command station has been sitting on top of the bookcases – but I decided a slide-away shelf suspended from the layout benchwork would be a better option. While doing some errands around the city this week, I grabbed a pair of drawer slides from Lee Valley Tools and a 12×36-inch “project panel” from a big box home improvement store.
Measuring under the layout, I determined I could drop the shelf about five inches below the benchwork – plenty of drop to accommodate the DCC system. I cut four strips of plywood, mounted the drawer slides to them, then screwed them to the layout framing. I then measured the distance between the slides and cut the project panel to length. I cut a couple of 1-inch strips off the leftover panel material and mounted these at each side, to give me some wood to which to attach the drawer slides.
A pair of hook-and-loop wire-dressing straps secure the ECoS system’s various cables to the project panel to act as strain relief when moving the shelf. If I need to remove the DCC system, it’s easy enough to undo the straps.
And that’s it!
This was a quick project – about 90 minutes from start to finish – and has already made a huge difference to my enjoyment of the layout. As a bonus, I can now use the DCC system’s two case-mounted throttles if I so choose.
I should’ve done this ages ago.
The Model Railway Show 